“ARGONAUT.”Photo by Hall & Co., Sydney.Larger image(258 kB)
“ARGONAUT.”
Photo by Hall & Co., Sydney.
Larger image(258 kB)
Captain A. Cook was her first skipper, then Captain Bonner had her in the late eighties.
Argonautwas still afloat in 1914. Under the name ofElvira, she flew the Portuguese flag and used the same home port, Lisbon, as theCutty SarkandThomas Stephens—and her round of ports was usually the same as that ofCutty Sark, namely—Rio Janeiro, New Orleans and Lisbon. In 1913, her name was again changed toArgo. The Portuguese, as in the case of theCutty Sark, retained the yards on the mizen.
PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO SYDNEY IN 1876.ShipDepartureCrossedEquatorCrossedCapeMeridianPassedS.W. CapeTasmaniaArrivedDaysOutPatriarchChannelJune23July14Aug.9Aug.30Sept.271(Otway)Samuel PlimsollPlymouthJune2June28July19Aug.9Aug.1978Cutty SarkChannelOct.23Nov.19Dec.11Jan.3 ’77Jan.10 ’7779PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO MELBOURNE IN 1876.ShipDepartureCrossedEquatorCrossedCapeMeridianPassedCape(Otway)ArrivedDaysOutMermerusGravesendJune25July17Aug.6Aug.3066MiltiadesLizardMay12May30June25July2170AristidesStartJuly10Aug.4Aug.26Sept.17Sept.1870Old KensingtonChannelAug.17Oct.2978Loch NessScillyJuly11Sept.2174MacduffChannelMay18July3174SalamisLizardMar.25Apl.18May14June7June875TheophaneTuskarAug.12Sept.11Oct.2675Loch MareeStartJune19July8Aug.10Sept.2Sept.376CassiopeChannelAug.26Nov.1076ParthenopeTuskarJuly27Oct.1277MarpesiaTuskarOct.21Jan.6 ’7777Loch KatrineStartMay26June15July12Aug.9Aug.1077RomanoffLizardJuly23July30Sept.17Sept.1877Thomas StephensLizardAug.7Sept.4Oct.2478
Theonly new ship to make a name for herself this year wasAristides, but I do not think she was as fast as Thompson’s earlier ships, and I much doubt if she were capable of the following week’s run, made bySamuel Plimsollwhilst running her easting down this year in 41° S., viz., 348, 330, 301, 342, 320, 264, and 340 = total 2245 miles.
Hardly any of the cracks are missing from the “under 80 day” list. TheTweed, with eight fine stallions on board, ran from the Start to King’s Island in 77 days on her way to Sydney, but was then held up three more days by calms.
Duthie’sBrilliantand Thompson’sPericleswere built alongside of each other and launched on the same tide; and both ships being in the Sydney trade there was naturally great rivalry between them. The two clippers proved to be very evenly matched and it isdifficult to award the palm.Periclesusually took emigrants out,Brilliantbeing loaded deep with general cargo, and they both loaded wool home. The two captains, Davidson of theBrilliantand Largie ofPericles, usually had a new hat on the result of each passage.Pericleswith her light load line generally won the hat going out, but theBrilliantwas always very hard to beat on the homeward run, and Captain Davidson, more often than not, got his hat back again.